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3WLER ON MEMORY 



PHRENOLOGY 



APPLIED TO THE 



CULTIVATION OF MEMORY: 



THE 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, AND 
THE STRENGTHENING AND EXPANDING 

OF THE 

Intellectual Powers. 



BY O. S. FOWLER, 

i 

PRACTICAL PHENOLOGIST, 

Editor of the American Phrenological Journal; Author of "Phrenology Proved, 
Illustrated, and Applied ;" " Phrenology and Physiology applied to Mat- 
rimony ; do, to Temperance ; do. to Education and Self- 
Improvement," &c. &c. &c, &c. 



intellectual enjoyment greatly surpasses physical pleasure. 



5 NEW-YORK: 

0. S. & L. N. FOWLER, IN CLINTON HALL; 131 NASSAU-ST. 
E. E. BARCLAY. 

For sale by J. R. Colon, 203 1-2 Chesnut Street, Philadelphia; Saxton & Pierce, 
Washington St. Boston ; R. L. Adams, Democrat Office, Rochester, N. Y. ; 
and by many Booksellers. 

1842. 



CONTENTS. <<A\ 



Uses and value of a retentive memory, t V* r 1 
All man's feelings and actions should be governed by 

intellect* : : : : : : 2 
Improving the intellect by enlarging the organs; : 3 
Value of this principle, and means of attaining this en- 
largement, :::::: 4 
The exercise of the faculties, the only means of 

strengthening them, and of enlarging their organs, 5 
To excite a faculty, its true functions must be known, 

and a natural stimulant presented, : : : 6 
Analysis and adaptation of Individuality, : : 7 
Teaching children from observation first, books afterwards, 8 
Common School studies injurious instead of beneficial, 9 
Teaching children to reason fronrobserving and compar- 
ing facts, : : : : : : 11 
The course of Education pointed out by Phrenology, 12 
Parents should educate their own children, : : 13 
Analysis, adaptation, and importance of Eventuality, 14 
Means of strengthening the memory of events, : 15 
Childen's " setting on a bench, and saying A." : : 16 
Telling children stories, : : : : 17 
Decrease of memory in adults caused by its inaction, 18 
Those whose business requires the exercise of memory, 
have it strong ; those who charge it with nothing, 
are forgetful, : : : : : 19 
The Author's experience, : : : ? : 21 
Striking facts.in illustration of this point, : : 22 
McGrugan's experience, : : : : : 24 
Reviewing the events each day, week, &c. at its close, 24 
Facilitating this by rendering our own children's lives 

agreeable, :' : : : : : 25 

Showing children phrenological and other experiments, 26 

Then the principles on which they depend, : : 27 

Analysis, adaptation, and function of Comparison, : 28 
This faculty the basis of most of our knowledge, and 

the main element in reasoning, : : : 29 
Comparisons and explanations easily understood by 

children, : : : : : : 31 

Answering all their questions and explaining principles, 31 

Analysis and adaptation of Casuality, : : 32 

Means of cultivating it by thinking and reasoning, : 33 

Giving children the data to think for themselves, : 34 

Causes of diminution of intellect, &c. : 6 : 36 

Analysis, adaptation, and means of cultivating Language, 40 

All shildren are talkers, and should not be restrained, 42 
Teaching. children grammar by parents using good language 44 

Analysis and adaptation of Form, : ' : : 46 

Teach them to read by teachiug words instead of letters, 48 



v 



V 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 

BY O. S. FOWLER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 



PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY 

jj APPLIED TO THE 

CULTIVATION OF MEMORY ; 



* TO THE 

. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN ; 

^ V AND THE 

\i\.* STRENGTHENING AND EXPANDING OF THE INTELLECT. 



BY O. S. FOWLER 
PRACTICAL PHRENOLOGIST 



^ • These subjects are of vast importance to each and every 
^ VKjnember of the human family, but especially to parents and 
\ \ the young. To descant upon the value or utility of memory, 

> would be superfluous. I appeal to you who are rich, if you 
would not gladly give your all, the necessaries of life alone 

l O excepted, for a clear and retentive memory of all you have 
\ v ever seen, or heard, or known. What would not you, lawyers 
C and physicians give, to be able, without notes, to recall, clearly 
r v >i and in order, every point of your evidence, every fact in your 
\ . practice, every point in the authors you have ever read ? Sim- 

> \\ ilar remarks apply to men of business, to whom a retentive 
> N memory is, if possible, still more serviceable. How often has 

^ \ the reader felt mortified in the extreme, and angry with him- 
* self, because he has forgotten something he intended to say or 

v$Y/ do ? How great the consequent inconvenience, and delay, and 
even loss, which a good memory would have avoided ? How 
^ much more powerful and effective is that speaker who candis- 
y\"pense with notes, yet say all he wishes ; and, by the aid of a 
\ clear and retentive memory, can bring to his aid thoughts and 



\ 


►V arrangements previously prepared ? In short, is there any oc- 
\\W cupation in life in which nearly everv kind of memory is not 



l 



v- 



«N 



% ADAPTATION OP THE FACULTIES. 

most useful 7 In many it is indispensable. We ask parents 
whether transmitting to their children vigorous intellects and 
retentive memories, is not one of the richest legacies they can 
leave them ? and whether a poor memory, one that is treach- 
erous to its trust, is not a sad misfortune ? 

Again: To be pioductive of pleasure, every action of our 
lives must be governed by intellect, which is only another 
name for experience and correct judgment. The man of feel- 
ing and impulse, is a man of sorrow and misfortune. The pro- 
pensities are blind, and blindly seek gratification ; whereas, 
intellect directs them into the paths of virtue and happiness. 
We grant, indeed, that the assistance of the moral faculties is 
also indispensable, yet without intellect, even they are "blind 
leaders of the blind ;" producing all the anomalies and abomi- 
nations of paganism. Aided by intellect, men accomplish much ' / 
more, and that far better than without it, doing with their heads * 
what unintellectual men do with their hands. 

And then again; how rich are the Measures of knowledge ! 
How delightful the study of nature ! "Knowledge is power." ' ' 
Man is so constituted that to study the laws and phenomena of 
nature — to witness chemical, philosophical, and other experi- * 
ments — to explore the bowels of the earth, and to examine the * 
beauties, the curiosities, and the wonders of its surface — to 
learn lessons of infinite power and wisdom as taught by as- 
tronomy — but more especially to study living, animated na- 
ture—to observe its adaptations and contrivances — in short, to 
study nature in all her beauty, and variety, and perfection, ' 
constitutes a source of the highest possible gratification of > 
which the human mind is susceptible. 

The mind of man is capable of improvement, and to a de- 
gree truly astonishing, far surpassing what is generally sup- 
posed. The importance of education and intellectual attain- * 
ments, is admitted by all, yet few know how to conduct the ■• 
former, or attain the latter. In order to educate or discipli?ie 
the mind, its nature, primary powers, and laws of action 
must be understood. This, few parents or teachers even pre- 
tend to understand; and hence, millions of money are annually ' y 
expended, and thousands of teachers constantly employed, - 
almost in vain. As well attempt to navigate the ocean with- „ 
out the compass, survey the land without the needle, study as- 



THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES ANALYZED. 3 

ironomy without the telescope, or attempt any thing else with- 
out knowing what requires to be done, or how to do it, as un- 
dertake to educate the young or discipline your own mind with., 
out first understanding the primary faculties of the mind, as 
well as its laws of action. To be successful, education and 
intellectual culture must be adapted to the mental faculties, 
and also conducted in harmony with the laws of mind. These, 
Phrenology explains most beautifully and clearly; thereby 
furnishing the only correct guide to parents and teacheas. The 
objects of this work, therefore, will be i 

1. To ANALYZE THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES; and 

2. To SHOW HOW TO IMPROVE THEM. 

That is, to show how to improve every kind of memory ; 
how to conduct the intellectual education of children and 
youth ; and, how to strengthen and expand the intellect; as 
well as how to acquire knowledge — objects, both individually 
and collectively, of the highest possible importance, especial- 
ly to parents, teachers, the young, and those who are studying 
a profession. 

It should here be remembered that, according to Phrenology, 
every organ can be enlarged? and the power and activity of 
every faculty, greatly augmented. As the exercise of any part 
of the body, as of the arm, foot, &c, causes the blood to flow 
more freely to the exercised part, so the exercise of any phre- 
nological organ, causes the blood to flow to that organ in pro- 
portion as it is exercised, and this blood contains matter for 
enlarging these parts, which it does in proportion to its abund- 
ance. This important point is fully explained and proved 
in my work on " Phrenology and Physiology applied to Ed- 
ucation nnd Self-Improvement."* # 

I contemplate no fact or principle in nature with more in- 
tense delight, and glory in propagating none more than this 
doctrine of the enlargement of the organs.. It shows how 
to improve the immortal mind, how to educate our race, 
how to diminish human suffering, and promote man's highest 

*This work embraces the portion of that work which is devoted to 
the cultivation of the memory and the intellectual education of children. 
The reader will doubtless find the whole of that work worthy of a care- 
ful perusal. At least, this will serve as a sample of that. 



4 INCREASE OF THE ORGANS BY EXERCISE, 

happiness. It holds out, in the language of demonstration, to 
one and all, a sovereign remedy, a panacea, for all intellectual 
weaknesses and moral maladies. Is your memory short or 
treacherous to its trust, it shows you how to strengthen it. If 
any of your passions predominate, it teaches you how to re- 
duce their power and activity ; or, if any faculty be weak or 
inactive, it shows how to cultivate and invigorate it. 

But it is to parents that it holds out by far the brightest star 
of promise. You love your children as you love your own 
souls, and are even more anxious to improve them than your- 
self, because you are too apt to regard your season for improve- 
ment as past. You are ever ready to expend your time or your 
money, upon their intellectual or moral education; but, unfor- 
tunately, hitherto you have only groped your way in the dim 
twilight, while this principle opens upon you the full orb 
of reason and mental science — the only correct guides to the 
results you seek. But let it be remembered that so precious a 
jewel as mental and moral improvement, cannot be purchased, 
or obtained by proxy, or inherited, except in its rudiments, 
but must be cultivated, and that by every one for himself. 
Parents and teachers may indeed place the proper means or 
mental stimulants before the minds of the young, just as they 
may place nourishing food before them, but can no more exer- 
cise the minds of children for them, than they can eat, or 
sleep, or breaihe, or die for them. 

Reader, do you desire to know how this can be effected ? Do 
you wish this mine of self-improvement opened, so that you 
may begin now to lay up its richest treasures ? Then give us 
your ear. The means of mental culture are simple, easily 
applied, and within the reach of all ; and, they are certain and 
powerful. They consist --simply in exercising the organs 
you wish to improve ; and, in not exercising those you wish 
to restrain. This, every one must do for himself, and do it, 
not "here a little and there a little," but habitually ; and, the 
"richest harvests mortals can reap, will crown your efforts — 
harvests infinitely richer than all the mines of the world, be- 
cause harvests of moral pleasure and intellectual attainment; 
harvests as far above all earthly possessions, as mind is superi 
or to matter. 

Will you sow, that you may reap this harvest ? or, will you 



MEANS OF EXCITING THE FACULTIES. 5 

fold your arms, and allow your brain, at least in pait, to die ; yes, 
to die while you live, merely from inaction ? Does not the glori- 
ous truth, just presented, inspire your hope, and nerve your 
determination to carry forward your intellectual and moral at- 
taiments as high in the scale of improvement as nature will 
allow ? Already, you eagerly ask, " how can we exercise our 
faculties, so as to enlarge the organs ? how bring them into 
vigorous and continuous exercise? how discipline the intellects, 
and call out the moral feelings of children and youth? Listen 
again, to 

THE MEANS OF EXCITING THE FACULTIES. 

Every faculty has its own proper aliment or stimulant , the 
presentation of which naturally induces spontaneous action. 
Thus, Alimentiveness is stimulated, not by gold or diamonds, 
but by food, its natural exciter. Hence, the sight of food, or 
seeing others eat, or even the taste or smell of food, excites 
hunger ; whereas, without these natural stimulants, Alimen- 
tiveness would have remained quiescent. Acquisitiveness is 
stimulated to action by property, or the possession of things, 
&c., but not by food, or distress, or danger. Causality is ex- 
cited to action by bringing causes within its reach. To ex- 
cite and thereby strengthen this faculty, think, reason, inquire 
into the causes of things, and trace out the relations between 
causes and effects — that is, bring this faculty into action 
upon* the causes, principles, and laws of things. Combative- 
ness is excited by opjjosition, not by beef-steak, or money, or 
a fact in philosophy. Approbativeness is excited by praise 
or reproach ; Benevolence, by suffering ; Reverence, by 
thoughts of God; Conscientiousness, by right and wrong; 
Ideality, by the beautiful, exquisite, or perfect; Mirthfulness, 
by the laughable or ridiculous; Locality, by travelling; Cau 
tiouseness, by danger, &c. 

But mark : one faculty cannot perform the function of any 
other, or supply its place. Though a person having Acquis- 
itiveness small, may make money to leave his children rich, 
or to show off, or to aid the poor, or to furnish the means of 
acquiring knowledge ; yet, these motives neither excite nor 
enlarge Acquisitiveness ; for, the first is an exercise of Philo- 
progenitiveness ; the second, of Approbativeness ; the third, 



6 ADAPTATION OF THE FACULTIES. 

of Benevolence ; the fourth, of Intellect, &c. To exercise 
Acquisitiveness, therefore, he must make and love money to 
possess and hoard — must love property to lay up, and for its 
own sake. You may eat a meal, not because you relish it, 
but because a certain hour has come — that is, from Time, not 
Alimentiveness. Fighting desperately from motives of honor, 
and not from love of fighting, is no more an exercise of Com- 
bativeness or Destruetiveness r than the apparent fondness, in 
company, of a husband and wife who cordially hate each 
other, is an exercise of pure connubial love. 

This illustration shows, first, that the precise nature, or le- 
gitimate function of every faculty, must be known, as well 
as its natural aliment or stimulant ; and, secondly, that this 
stimulant must be placed before the faculty so as to excite it, 
in order thereby to enlarge it. 

The first thing to be done, then, is to obtain a knowledge 
of the function of every faculty, that we may know how to 
excite it. To impart this knowledge, we shall briefly analyze 
each faculty ; and, in order to do this in the shortest and most 
effectual method possible, we shall point out the adaptation 
of each to its counterpart in nature, or to the end it attains in 
the economy of man. Thus, Philoprogenitiveness is adapted 
to the infantile condition of man ; Causality, to the arrange- 
ment or laws of cause and effect ; Cautiousness, to our being 
in a world of danger ; Benevolence, to the sufferings of man- 
kind ; Alimentiveness, to the requirement and arrangement of 
digestion ; Constructiveness, to our need of clothes, houses,, 
and things that are made, &c. We know of no short-hand 
method of impressing indelibly, the nature and function of the 
faculties at all to be compared to this,, united with definitions 
instead of descriptions. Remembering this adaptation of a 
faculty to its object, is comparatively easy, and this reveals its 
true function. 

The reader is now prepared to enter upon the analysis of the 
intellectual faculties which will point out the various kinds of 
memory; and, then upon the means of strengthening and 
improving the memory, as well as securing mental discipline. 

The organs of the intellectual faculties, occupy the forehead. 
The rule for ascertaining the amount of brain devoted to the 
intellectual organs is this: Erect a perpendicular line from the 



ANALYSIS OP INDIVIDUALITY. 7 

most prominent part of the zigomatic arch — that bone which 
commences just in front of the ear and runs towards the eye — 
and the amount of brain forward of that line, indicates the 
size of the intellectual lobe. This method of measuring the 
intellectual lobe, is far better than that of measuring from the 
ears forward, which is very imperfect, first, becase it measures 
a part of the propensities ; and secondly, because the organs are 
sometimes short and broad, and sometimes slim, or long in pro- 
portion to their breadth. 

These faculties are usually divided into two classes; yet, we 
are satisfied that making a third class will still farther faciliate 
their study. The first developed of these, as well as the most 
important, are the organs in the middle portion of the fore- 
head, embracing Individuality, Eventuality, and Comparison, 
which might be called the knowing organs, being the first, 
if not the main, channels through which a knowledge of things, 
especially of the phenomena and laws of things, flows into the 
mind. All children will be found to have a great fulness, if 
not marked prominence, commencing above the nose, and ex- 
tending upward through the middle of the forehead, to its up- 
per part; and, in accordance with this development, all children 
have an insatiable curiosity to see, see, see everything ; to 
know all about whatever is passing; and to ask what is this, 
and what is that ; together with a remarkably retentive mem- 
ory of stories, facts, and what they have seen, heard, or read. 
Besides being a proof of the truth of Phrenology, this shows 
how to educate children ; namely, by showing them things, 
rather than hooks — by exhibiting facts, and explaining the op- 
erations and phenomena of nature. But the force of this 
remark will be the mora evident after we have analyzed these 
organs separately. They are 

INDIVIDUALITY : 
Or observation of thi?igs: curiosity to see and examine ob- 
jects : examination of things as independent existences, 
and in their isolated capacity. 

This is the looking faculty. Its one distinctive function is to 
see things. \t&sks"what is this, and ivhat is that?" It 
creates that intellectual curiosity, as well as that instinctive de- 
sire to examine»and discover things, which has resulted in most 
of the discoveries in modern science, improvements in agricul 



8 TEACHING CHILDREN THINGS FIRST, BOOKS AFTERWARDS. 

ture, the arts, &c. It constitutes the stepping-stone, or dooi 
of entrance through which a knowledge of things, as things, 
is received into the mind, and takes cognizance of what is 
called the divisibility of matter, or that quality which allows 
a body to be divided and subdivided " ad infinitum" while 
each portion cut orf still remains a distinct thing. 

Adaptation, — On looking at any thing, say a book or pen, 
the first impression received from it is, that it. is a thing. It 
is its personality, its individuality, its thingness, which first 
enters the mind. Before we can examine its properties or 
uses, we must know that it is a something. Matter is parcelled 
out into things without number, each of which has a separate 
existence of its own. Thus, who can count the sands upon the 
sea shore, or the leaves or twigs of the forest, or the particles 
of matter ? And yet, each, in its very nature, has a separate 
existence of its own. To this necessary property of matter, 
theiefore, this faculty is adapted. 

.. The infant of a few hours, or at least, days old, begins to 
look at surrounding objects, to gaze, and stare, and notice. In- 
deed, this appears to be the first intellectual organ exercised ; 
and, during childhood and youth, it evinces this curiosity to 
see, and handle every thing, to pull things apart so as to see 
what is inside of them, &c, seeming to be one of the strongest 
intellectual desires and functions of children. 

This looking tendency of children is too strong, too univer- 
sal to be mistaken, and the result to which it leads is equally 
general — equally conclusive. It says, and in language too 
loud, too plain to be unheard or misunderstood — the language 
of nature — that children must be taught by observation, first 
and mainly, from books, afterward and secondarily. This 
curiosity of children, and the extraordinary development of 
Individuality in them, expose the fallacy of the almost uni- 
versal opinion, that they can neither learn nor know any 
thing till they can read and spell, and of the custom of consu- 
ming five or more years of the most valuable portion of their 
ives, upon reading and spelling. The fact is, education 
is begun at the wrong end, and continued wrong through- 
out. Should we not follow the order in which their organs 
are developed ? Shall we put them to studying subjects which 
they have not yet the powers to comprehend ? As well set the 
blind to select colors, or the deaf to learn music. 



MODERN EDUCATION DETRIMENTAL. 9 

This error is almost fatal to intellectual exercise, and of 
course to the development either of the intellectual organs or 
their faculties. Reading is arbitrary, and requires a vigor- 
ous and protracted exercise of intellect : observation is perfect- 
ly natural and easy, as much so as breathing or sleeping. 
Learning to read is irksome, and therefore repulsive, while 
observation is delightful ; and all know with how much more 
ease and profit the mind engages in that mental study which is 
agreeable. Learning to read does not interest children, and 
therefore does not exercise, and hence cannot enlarge, their in- 
tellectual organs, while observation, having things shown and 
explained to them, delights them beyond measure. Teach 
children things first, books afterwards, thereby calling the in- 
tellectual organs into powerful action, which enlarges them, 
and strengthens their faculties. No wonder mankind are so un- 
intellectual. No wonder they will flock by thousands to see 
monkey shows, circus exhibitions, &c, but take little interest 
in purely scientific or intellectual matters. True, they flock to 
hear an eloquent speaker, because he rouses their feelings; yet, 
how few go to hear close reasoning, or see an exhibition of 
facts. No wonder that mankind spend most of their time, de- 
sires, &c, upon the gratification of their feelings and passions, 
and that even their religious belief and practice are mainly a 
matter of education or feeling. This lamentable deficiency of 
intellect is certainly not constitutional, or the fault of man's 
nature ; for, as already seen, Phrenology lays down the doc- 
trine as fundamental and universal, that intellect should direct 
and govern all our feelings, even the moral and religious : and 
that what nature requires, she provides. She requires the as- 
cendency of the intellect, and, accordingly, all children have 
superior intellects ; far better, in proportion, than adults. How 
much oftener will the reader see fine foreheads on children than 
on grown persons ? But why this relative increase of organs 
destined by nature to guide and sway man ? For the same 
reason that colored children have better heads than colored 
adults, and colored people at the North, than those at the 
South: namely, because nature does more for them than edu- 
cation perfects — because they become weak from mere inac- 
tion. The cause of this inaction, we have given, namely, 
want of interest in their studies; and this want of interest 



10 EVILS OF SENDING YOUNG CHILDREN TO SCHOOL. 

is because their studies are above their comprehension, and not 
adapted to their faculties. 

We know, indeed, that we are advocating a bold innovation ; 
that we are sapping, or rather undermining the very foundation 
of education ; that we are demolishing, at a single stroke, an 
idol to which parents cling as they do to their children them- 
selves, and on whose altar millions are sacrificed in body, and 
nearly all in mind — but we cannot help it; for, our data is 
Phrenology, and our inferences conclusive. From the uni- 
versal fact that Individuality is the first and most prominently 
developed intellectual organ of children, there is no appeal ; 
and, from our inference that, therefore, this organ should be 
brought into habitual action in them ; that to shoiv and explain 
things to them should even be the leading object of early ed- 
ucation, is direct and unequivocal. That teaching them to 
read and spell, exercises their observing powers but little, or at 
least not to any extent worth naming, is self-evident. It absolute- 
ly prevents observation, instead of promoting it. What is there 
within the walls of a school house for children to see ? Abso- 
lutely nothing* 1 but an occasional prank of some mischievous 
scholar, at which, if they see, they naturally laugh, for which 
they get chastised or boxed over the ears, accompanied with a 
"There, now, see that you keep your eyes on your book." As 
well chastise them for breathing, or for being hungry ! Shut 
out from the view of objects at school, and mostly confined 
within doors while at home, no Wonder that they lose their 
curiosity, and find their intellects enfeebled. Their arms, or 
feet, or any other physical organ, if laid up in a sling, or pre- 
vented from exercise, would also'become enfeebled. At thre<$ 
years old, just when they require all the physical energies of 
their yet delicate nature f >r growth, they must be confined in 
a school house ; their growth thereby stinted; and often fatal 
disease engendered, and all to spoil their intellects. True, 
parents mean it for the best, but that no more obviates the evil 
consequences, than to give them arsenic, intending to benefit 
them, would prevent its killing them. 

But this bold, and at first apparently revolting position* is 
still farther established by observing the method by which the 
human mind arrives at all correct conclusions. Reasoning alone, 
without its being founded upon observation, cannot teach any 



OBSERVATION MUST PRECEDE REASONING. 11 

thing. Would reason alone have ever discovered, or ever per- 
fected, Phrenology? Can reason teach us, in the first instance, 
that a function of a muscle is motion, or of a nerve, sensation ; 
that the eye was made to see ; that heat can be obtained from 
trees? that water can quench thirst, and food satiate hunger? 
that a stone thrown into the air will fall again to the earth? 
Observation must always precede reasoning. After we have 
seen thousands of stones that were thrown into the air return 
to the earth ; seen food satiate hunger, and water quench thirst, 
thousands of times, &c, we may then begin to reason that other 
stones thrown into the air, will also fall to the earth, that food in 
other cases will satisfy hunger, and water allay thirst, &c. ' The 
inductive method of studying nature, namely, by observing 
facts, and ascending through analogous facts up to the laws 
that govern them, is the only way to arrive at correct conclu- 
1 sions — the only safe method of studying any science or opera- 
tion of nature, Phrenology included, or of ascertaining any 
truth in nature. 

Now, the minds of children are only the minds of adults in 
embryo. The former are compelled, by an unbending law 
of mind, to gain all their knowledge by the same process by 
which the latter perfect theirs — by observation, followed by 
reason. Then let children be taught this lesson of induction as 
their first lesson, their main lesson during childhood. This 
lesson never falsifies ; books and papers sometimes do ; and 
thereby bias and warp their judgment, implant errors, and 
blind reason. 

We now appeal whether we are not on philosophical ground, 
as well as phrenological — whether we are not planted on a law 
of mind, and whether education should not be made to conform 
to it. Is not this point self-evident ? and should not education 
be at once remodeled in harmony with it ? We doubt whether 
fifty years will pass, if twenty, before this fundamental change 
will be brought about. We even expect to live to see it, even 
though the good (?) old way is so thoroughly rivited upon the 
affections of parents. But let every reader ask himself what 
good his books did him while a child ? Let him look around, 
and he will doubtless find, what we have been astonished to 
observe, that many men having the strongest minds as well as 
memories, and the best business talents, do not know how to 



12 INDIVIDUALITY CULTIVATED. 

read or write. Let him ask which is preferable, book-learning, 
or common sense? a college learned sapling, or a strong-minded, 
common sense citizen who cannot read ? and train his children 
accordingly. 

Not that we would have reading, writing, and spelling neg- 
lected, but we would make them secondary ; both as to time, 
and as to intrinsic importance. 

The course pointed out by Phrenology, then, is simply this. 
Even before your child is three months old, place a variety of 
objects before it ; take it into rooms and places which it has 
not yet seen ; hold it often to the window to look abroad upon 
nature, and see things that may be passing, &c. At six 
months, take hold of the things shown it, and call them by 
name, as plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon, table, bed, &c. 'At 
one and two years old, take it out of doors much, (which will 
strengthen its body as well as afford increased facilities for 
seeing things,) show it flowers, trees, leaves, fruit, animals, 
&c, in their ever-varying genera and species ; and when it 
asks you " Pa, what is this ?" " Ma, what is that ?" instead of 
chiding them with an " Oh, dear, you pother me to death with 
your everlasting questions, do hush up," take pains to explain 
all, and even to excite their curiosity to know more. Take 
them daily into your fields, or gardens, or shops, and while 
you are procuring them the means of physical support and 
comfort, store their minds with useful knowledge. Even if 
they hinder you, rejoice; remembering that you are developing 
their immortal minds — a matter of infinitely greater impor 
tance than adorning their persons, or leaving them rich, &c. 

As they become three and four years old, take them to the 
Museum : show them all the fish, birds, animals &c. Tell them 
all that is known about the habits, actions, and condition of 
each, (not all in a day, or in a year,) and provide them with 
books on natural history, with explanatory cuts, (what, for 
children to read before they have learned their letters ? no, 
but) so that, as they clamber upon your lap, and fold their filial 
arms around your willing neck, you may show them these pic- 
tures, and read what is said of their habits, dispositions, modes 
of life, &c. Show them the minerals, their diversity, colors, 
kinds, &c. ; and then take them into the laboratory of nature, 



PARENTS SHOULD BE TEACHERS. 13 

and show them the operations of the chemical and philosoph- 
ical world. 

Take them again into your garden ; show them a pretty- 
flower, (reader, did you ever see a child that was not extraor- 
dinarily fond of flowers ?) show them its parts and the uses of 
of each; the calyx and its texture and location as adapted to 
the protection of the flower ; the petals and their office ; the 
stamins, and their office ; the pistil, and all its other parts, with 
the uses and functions of each, and your child will be delighted 
beyond measure. The next day, show it another and different 
flower ; point out their resemblances and differences, and you 
not only gratify, or rather excite and develope your child's in- 
tellectual curiosity , but also teach it to analyze, compare, clas- 
sify, &c. — the first step in reasoning. 

" But I do not know enough," says one parent. Then go 
and learn. Let young ladies spend less time over their toilet, 
music, love-tales, parties, " setting their caps," &c, so that 
they can learn the more, and be the better qualified to culti- 
vate the intellects of their children. Parents are solemnly 
"bound, in duty to their children and their God, not to become 
parents till they aie qualified to educate and govern their chil- 
dren. 

" But I have not the time" says another. Then you should 
not have time to marry. Take time first to do what is most 
important. But more hereafter on the duties of parents to 
educate their own children, and also of the qualifications 
requisite for this most responsible office. We will first show 
how to educate children, and then, how to find time to do it. 
And yet, strange inconsistency, many young people rush head- 
long into the marriage state, totally unqualified to train up 
their children, either intellectually or morally. And it is still 
more strange, that, with all the interest felt in this subject, afrd 
alljthe efforts made to improve it, we have only made matters 
worse ; because, the modern systems of education are not 
founded in the nature of man ; but, in nearly every feature, 
are in direct violation of that nature, especially of the natures 
of children. 

Having thus laid the foundation of education in observa- 
tion, not books, we proceed to build its first story, which 
consists in the cultivation of 



14 CULTIVATION OF MEMORY. 

EVENTUALITY.* 

Or desire to witness or make experiments : to find out what 
is: to know what has been, or to ascertain what will be : 
love of knowledge : thirst for information: desire to 
hear and relate anecdotes: recollection of action, phe- 
nomena, occurrences, circumstances, historical facts, the 
news of the day, events, 8?c. 

Adaptation. — Nature is one great theatre of action, mo- 
tion, and change. These ehanges, or operations, are almost 
infinite in number arid variety. Rivers are ever running, the 
tides ebbing and flowing ; the seasons going and returning ; 
vegetation springing up, arriving at maturity, or returning to 
decay ; and all nature, whether animate or inanimate, undergo- 
ing one continual round of changes. Man, so far from being ex- 
empt from this law, is a perfect illustration of it. In- 
stead of being placed in the midst of one monotonous now, 
one unchanging sameness, his heart is eVer^beating, blood al- 
ways flowing, lungs ever in motion, and his mind (at least in its 
waking state) experiencing a number and variety of incidents 
or events never to be told ; for, the very recital of them, would 
only double their number. Innumerable historical events have 
been continually transpiring from the first dawn of human 
existence, until now, widening and varying with the addition 
of every successive being to our race. To be placed in a one- 
condition state, in which no changes or events occur, would 
preclude all happiness ; for, the very experiencing of pleasure 
or pain, or even of any mental exercise, is itself an event. 
Even the sciences themselves are only an enumeration of the 
operations, or the doings of nature. Or, in case these changes 
existed, if man had no primary faculty which could take cog- 
nizance of them, or remember them, nature would be a 
sealed book ; suffering and enjoyment impossible ; experience? 
our main guide to certain knowledge, and the best of teachers, 
unknown ; and all the memory of the past and even of our 
own past existence, obliterated. 

Eventuality, therefore, adapts man to his existence in a world 
of changes or events ; lays up -rich treasures of knowledge ; 
*In this work, we shall pay but little attention to the order m which 
authors describe the organs ; but, in this portion of it, shall analyze the 
organs either in the order of their natural connextion and development, 
or importance, as will best present and enforce our ideas. 



CULTIVATION. OF EVENTUALITY. 15 

recalls what we have seen, heard, read, or experienced; is the 
main store-house of experimental knowledge ; and, aids reason 
in teaching us what will be from what has been. The function 
of no intellectual faculty is more important, and the loss of 
none, more injurious. Its development follows closely upon that 
of Individuality; being one of the earliest and strongest intel- 
lectual faculties manifest in children. Without this to retain 
the knowledge they are hourly acquiring, they could not ad 
vance a single step in acquiring that experimental knowledge 
of things, the application of which is indispensable in every 
thing we say or do. .The constitution of the human mind re- 
quires that Individuality, or a craving curiosity to see every 
thing, should be developed and exercised before reason, or any 
other intellectual faculty can be brought into action ; and, sec- 
ondly, that Eventuality or memory of things seen, and knowl- 
edge acquired, should follow next; and, that these two mental 
operations should constitute the main body of all our knowl- 
edge, as well as the only correct basis of all reasoning. Infer- 
ences, not drawn from facts, or not founded in them, are val- 
ueless. Reason without facts, is like an eye in total darkness, 
or rather, reasoning cannot exist without being based on facts ; 
or, more properly, reasoning is only a general fact, a law which 
governs a given class of nature's operations. This arguing 
and drawing inferences independent of facts is not reasoning, 
only guessing, or surmising, or giving a therefore, without a 
wherefore, which is no guide to truth, and worse than valueless; 
for, like an " ignis fatuus," it only misleads. 

These remarks, though they present the function of Event- 
uality in its true light, by no means do justice to its importance, 
which it is impossible for words to express. Still, they show 
the necessity of its cultivation in children, and that every other 
faculty, except observation, which is its twin-sister, must give 
way to its improvement. We shall next consider, 

THE MEANS OP STRENGTHENING MEMORT OP EVENTS. 

This can be effected only by callirtg it into vigorous and 
habitual exercise ; and ; this' must be done, particularly in 
children, by keeping before the mind interesting events to be 
remembered. All this can not ^be done in school ; for, little 
occurs there to be remembered except their plays. A short 
story will best illustrate and enforce fiis point. 



20 NOTE DOWN THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED, 

bered, the only difficulty being in remembering names — a point 
to which, till recently, I never attended; and now, only slightly. 
In Boston, having occasion to order an article by packet from 
Philadelphia, on taking out my pencil to write the name of 
the ship and captain, its leads were out, and no means of making 
the memoranda were at hand. Applying this principle, I 
thought it over and over and over again, till "The Robt. Wain," 
Capt. Martin, was indelfbly impressed upon my recollection. 
In visiting families— and I often have appointments every eve- 
ning for three weeks ahead — I never allow -myself to note down 
either name, date, street, number, or hour, or the number to 
be examined, and all from practising the principle I am ur- 
ging. Nor would the gold of the world, if such a thing were 
possible, buy of me the mere improvement in the various kinds 
of memory effected by this course. Let the reader practise it, 
and in five years, he, too, will say the same. Nay, more. 
Doubtless every reader may double the power of any kind, or 
of all kinds, of memory in six months, and improve it fifty 
per cent in one month. At least, it is worth the trial — which 
is only the vigorous and habitual exercise of your mind upon 
what you wish to remember; a simple remedy, but a glorious 
result. 

Following out this principle, I seldom lecture from notes, 
but from memory alone ; though never commit, in which, not 
having practised, I do not excel. My work on Phrenology 
was composed, not from notes, but from recollecting the heads 
and characters of those described in it ; and, I could fill ten 
more just such volumes from the same source, without depart- 
ing one iota from what was said at the examination, except 
omitting unimportant parts. 

These remarks about myself, which might be greatly extend- 
ed, are not prompted by a boastful spirit; for, I claim no great 
credit for doing what my business compels me to do ; but, by 
a desire to present the reader with a scene from real life as a 
' sample of the means of exercising, and thereby improving, the 
powers of memory, especially, of Eventuality, as well as to 
illustrate the great law on which the education of the opening 
mind should be conducted. I will just add, that the study cf 
Phrenology far exceeds "all the mental exercises I everexperi 
•need or read of, for disciplining the memory, and improving 



THIS METHOD TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 17 

no mode equally delightful to them, and, I might add, equally 
profitable. 

There is a vast amount of common sense and human nature 
in the Bible. To say nothing of its authenticity, how perfectly 
it harmonizes with this principle, when it directs the children 
of Israel to "tell the Lord's doings to their children, and their 
childrens' children, and they again to theirs, by the way-side, 
and by the fire-side, when you lay down, and when you rise 
up." "Write them upon the doors," &c, that they may be a 
perpetual token of remembrance, &c. In other words : Tell 
your children, y*our grand-children, and your great grand-chil- 
dren, the story of God's dealings with the children of Israel; 
their sojourn in Egypt ; their departure ; their wanderings in 
the desert; their rebellions, and all the incidents connected with 
Jewish history. The tenacious adherence of this nation to 
their ancient customs, renders it highly probable that this in- 
junction is followed more or less to this day ; and, accordingly, 
we have invariably found Eventuality surprisingly large in 
the Jews ; larger than in any other class we examine. It is 
probably not too much to add, that our best oriental and his- 
torical scholars are Jews. From what we have seen of them 
in this respect, we unhesitatingly assert, that they far exceed 
any other people. But of this the reader can judge for himself. 
What history equals that of jffsephus for accuracy or minute- 
ness of detail ? And is not the Bible, considered merely as a 
history/characterized for the same qualities ? 

Again : The North American Indians perpetuate their histo- 
ries in the memories of the rising race. The old grand-father, 
too feeble to wield the tomahawk, or chase the stag, takes his 
little grand-son upon his' knee, and recounts to him, with a 
minuteness and accuracy of which we can form no idea, the 
battles he has fought, the enemies he has killed, and the man- 
ner of killing them, his journeys and every little circumstance 
connected therewith, even to the starting of a deer, or the fly- 
ing of an owl ; as well as the looks of the country, the mount- 
ains crossed, and rivers forded, and their windings, &c. A' spe- 
cimen of their astonishing powers of recollecting and narrating, 
is to be found in the life of Blackhawk, dictated by him to an 
interpreter after his first visit t% this country, some of which 

2 



IS CULTIVATION OF MEMORY IN CHILDREN. 

was extracted into the Journal, Vol. I, No. 2. That article the 
writer prepared; and, in looking over the work for selections 
to illustrate his developments, we were surprised at the perspi- 
cuity and minuteness of details of his story. Beginning back 
at the time when his tribe inhabited Montreal, he told those 
prophetic revelations which preceded their removal, and all the 
incidents of their successive journeys as the whites drove them 
back, and still farther back : the particulars of his joining Te- 
cumseh in fighting against Gen. Harrison : the details of the 
war in which he was taken : the injustice of the whites : his 
travels through the United States: whom he saw, and what 
was. said on various occasions, &c, &c., with a detailed precis- 
ion which is rarely if ever found in our own race, and that at 
the age of 70. We hazard nothing in saying that the Indians 
know more of their national history than the Anglo-Saxons do 
of theirs ; because, the former tell it to their children in the form 
of stories, while the latter put it in their libraries, and teach 
their children to " set on a bench and say A." Let the two 
but be united — the very course we propose to pursue — and the 
attainments of our children would doubtless be incredible, far 
exceeding any thing now known. 

Let every reader ask himself whether he does not remember 
the incidents and stories of childhood with a clearness ancl 
minuteness with which his present memory bears no compari 
son ? But why this weakening of this kind of memory ? Be- 
cause you sat " on a bench and said A" ; that is, because your 
early education repressed instead of exciting Eventuality ; so 
that its inaction diminished it, and not because the constitution 
of man requires it to become enfeebled by age. You had 
nothing to remember, and therefore remembered nothing. And 
if you wish to improve your memory, go to remembering; for, 
the more you try to remember, the more you do remember 
and the more you remember, the better you are able to remem- 
ber. It is a mistaken notion that the more you charge your 
memory with, the less you remember. The reverse is the 
fact, unless other things confuse you, and wear out your brain. 
Ask our post officefclerks if they do not find their memorie •• of 
names, faces, changes ordered, &c, to improve instead of be- 
coming weaker. Many a lesson of this character have my 



THE EXTENT OF HIS KNOWLEDGE. 23 

on with the entire book ; thus constantly exercising his event- 
uality. After a little, he could keep the history of two books, 
and then of three, and four, each clearly before his mind at 
once, and carry them along in his memory as he read them. 

But he found he forgot names. He pursued the same course 
in reference to this kind of memory, and thus improved it also. 
But he found that he forgot where on the page he left off, and 
was obliged to turn down a leaf. This would not do. He 
each time impressed upon his locality where he left off, and that 
in each book, and shortly found this kind of memory likewise 
improved. He also exercised his Causality in philosophizing 
upon what he read. Now, if Phrenology be true, his organs 
of Eventuality, Locality, Language, &c, must have been 
small, but they are now all remarkably large, showing their 
increase by exercise, and he informed me that now, at sixty 
years of age, his mind is more vigorous, and his memory 
more retentive, than ever before — that it still goes on improv 
ing, though at his age all kinds of memory, are usually feeble, 
and declining. 

Let it be observed, that he took the very method for the 
increase of organs pointed out by Phrenology, namely, the 
vigorous exercise of the very powers he wished to improve. 
He is acknowledged to have the best memory, and to be the 
best informed man in central Pennsylvania. Lawyers, doctors, 
and the literati from all that section, go to him to obtain infor- 
mation on doubtful points, and deem it a great privilege to hear 
him talk, or gather that information which his extensive read- 
ing and perfectly retentive memory enaoles him to impart. Let 
those who have poor memories, go and do likewise; for, your 
memory, equally with his, is susceptible of improvement, and 
probably to as great a degree, provided your constitution is 
unimpaired, health good, and regimen proper. 

This case furnishes an additional fact to show the increase 
of the organs ; for, if Phrenology be true, his Eventuality 
must have been small at twenty-five ; but it has now become 
large, from its exercise. 

Ellihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith, is another sample of 
what man's mind is capable of accomplishing. [See Journal, 
Vol. Ill, p, 21.-] 



24 IMPROVING THE MEMORY BY REVIEWING THE PAST. 

Parentage unquestionably contributes Its c[uota to this re- 
sult, but education must perfect it. All children have prodi- 
gious Eventuality, and all adults might have it, if they would • 
but tax their memories. If Mr. Burritt's case does not prove 
that all can be Burritt's, Mr. McGrugan's goes far to favor 
that all may be McGrugans. Reader, only try the experiment 
as we direct, and I will stand sponsor for any failure except 
your failure to persevere in trying it — you* giving, credit in 
case of a successful issue. 

I might sustain the point I am now urging by almost any 
number and variety of similar facts, and afford additional en- 
couragement to those who are disposed to try it, but if what has 
already been said is not abundantly sufficient, both to prove 
our position, and to encourage, especially the young, to adopt 
the simple and easy course pointed out, additional labor would 
be in vain. Still, that he that runs may read, and that no stone 
maybe left unturned in order to elevate the intellectual 
character and standing of man, I will add a few directions, as 
samples of what is to be done, and how to do it. 

When you retire at night, devote fifteen minutes to a review 
of the events, sayings, and transactions of each day. Thus : I 
rose (Eventuality) this morning at six o'clock, (Time,) went 
to such places, (Eventuality, Locality,) and did such and such 
things (Eventuality) before breakfast, (Time,) which I ate at 
seven o'clock, (Time,) said and heard such and such things at 
breakfast, (here recall the subject-matter of conversation,) went 
about such a business, (Eventuality,) saw Mr. — , (Form,) who 
said such and such things, (Eventuality.) This angered me, 
and I said thus and so in reply, (but ought not to have lost my 
temper, and will avoid it in future,) and sc* on to the end of the 
day. Every Saturday evening, extend these reviews of the 
past through the week, and then often recall the events of 
childhood and youth. This course, besides disciplining your 
memories, teaches you one of the very best lessons you can 
possibly learn. It will enable you to see your past errors, and 
to avoid them for the future — will give you a just estimate of 
your doings, sayings, &c, and, though it may drop a tear of 
penitence over the wrong in Reeling, conduct, expression, &c, 
yet it will be the most effective instrument of reform and self- 



IN THE HEAD, NOT IN THE POCKET. 21 

the mind. Its study is, therefore, cordially recommended not 
only on account of the glorious truths and rich mines of thought 
it opens, but merely as a means of strengthening the memory, 
and improving the mind. But more of this after I have 
analyzed the other intellectual faculties. 

Were other illustrations of the extent to which memory may 
be carried by exercising it, necessary, I might state cases rela- 
ted to me in my practice. Mr. White, dentist, Tenth street, 
near George, Philadelphia, informs me that his wife's uncle, 
who resides near Reading, Pa., was unable to read, or write, or 
keep books, and yet, that he usually did business to the amount 
of hundreds of thousands of dollars, annually, without ever 
having been known to make a mistake as to the amount due 
from him or to him, till after he became intemperate. 

After giving this lecture in Clinton Hall, in February last, 
a gentleman stated to me that he knew an extensive drover in 
the New York market, who could not read, write, or keep 
books ,; yet, who would sell out a drove of hundreds of cattle, 
one to one man, another to another, a half to a third, and a 
quarter to another, and yet^ keep every one in his head, their 
weight and price, and amount due from each ; and, said he "I 
never knew a single mistake ; and, what is more, he will do 
the same of droves sold years ago. He stated it as his full 
conviction, that he never forgot a single hoof he ever sold, or 
its weight, or price, or purchaser. If the reader thinks tnat 
this draws too largely upon his marvellousness, I reply, wait a 
little ; for, you may yet see collateral evidence of its truth. I 
give it as my full and deliberate opinion, that the mind of man 
is so constituted as to be able, if properly disciplined, and if the 
body be kept in the right state, to retain every thing it ever 
received. Unquestionably, our memories are originally consti- 
tuted to be fact tight — to let no event of our lives, nothing 
ever seen, heard, or read, escape us, but to recall every thing 
committed to its trust. Look at the astonishingly retentive 
memories of children. And yet their brains are still soft and 
immature. What, then, might the memory of adults become ? 
As much stronger, more minute, and tenacious, as their brains 
are capable of becoming more solid and vigorous. But mod- 
ern education weakens, instead of improving the memory ; first, 
by relaxing, weakening, and almost destroying the tone and 



22 EXPERIENCE OF M 7 GRUGAJSF. 

power of the body, and thereby the vigor of the organs in 
the base of the brain, including the perceptive or knowing or- 
gans,* and, secondly, by giving them, especially Eventuality 
little stimulus, little food, so that it becomes enfeebled by sheer 
starvation and inaction. It has little to do, and therefore does 
not do that little ; carymg out the principle that " From him 
that hath not, shall be taken away even that he hath." 

A similar fact, but one still more in point, occurs in the case- 
of Mr. McGrugdin, of Milton, Pa. In 1S36, we examined 
his head, and foundall the intellectual organs-amply developed.. 
We well remember the bold prominences of Causality, as well 
as the perpendicular ridge, somewhat resembling a part of a 
pipe stem, which we observed in the centre of the forehead, 
which indicates the recent enlargement of this organ. In our 
visit to Chambersburg, Pa., in 1839, Mr. McGrugan, waited 
on us to request an hour's interview. He then expressed him- 
self in the strongest terms as to the extent to which memory 
was capable of being improved, expressing the strongest desire 
to be, what his age and circumstances prevented his becoming, 
a public lecturer, simply that he might enforce upon young- 
men the importance of memory, and the means of cultivating it. 

He, said that at twenty-five, his memory was most miserable. 
If rie went from his house to his shop for any thing, he usually 
forgot what he went for. If he went to town, lie forgot most 
of his errands. He could not recollect any thing he read or 
heard, neither names, nor words, nor dates, nor facts. At 
length he resolved no longer to submit to this forgetfulness, 
but to discipline his. mind, in doing which he adopted the fol- 
lowing method. When he wanted any thing from his house,, 
he would think over and over in his mind what it was he 
wanted, »thus exercising his Eventuality upon it, and thereby 
remembered it. He would jead a passage and re-read it, and 
then think it over and over, or- in phrenological language^ 
would exercise his Eventuality upon it, strongly impressing it 
upon that faculty. He would then lay by his book, and still 
revolve it in his mind, and then read another passage, and go 
hrough the same process in reference to both together, and so 

' *The proof and explanation of the relative or reciprocal influences- 
between the body*zn$ the base of the brain, will be given hereafter. 



TEACHING THEM INDUCTIVE REASONING. 27 

Then show them bow a sour stomach is produced. After 
explaining the position, looks, and office of the stomach,* tell 
them that eating too much, or more than the stomach can di- 
gest, makes this food lie in it so long that it begins to ferment 
or sour, like cider or beer, which disorders the blood, and 
causes sickness unless removed ; that this souring creates a 
gas, which may often be seen blubbering up and the bubbles 
breaking ; that, in distilling grain into alcoholic drinks, the 
grain is first fermented, and this gas converted into alcohol'; 
that it is this same gas which sometimes bursts a barrel of new 
cider or bottle of beer that is working, and makes the cork fly- 
out with a noise or explosion similar to the report of a gun, and 
which causes the frothing of new beer, cider, champagne, &c. 

Then take a bladder, partly filled with air; let your child 
hold it near the fire and see it swell, and carry it back and see 
it shrink, carry it up and see it swell, &c, a few times, and he 
will be delighted to observe that heating it makes it swell up, 
and that cold shrinks it. Then let him take a vial or bottle, 
and fill it so that another drop will make it run over, and 
set it down before the fire ; and, as it becomes hot, it runs over ; 
as it becomes cool, it settles down. Then, that this expanding 
of the water is what makes water boil over a hot fire ; the bot- 
tom, which is hottest, expands, and this causes it to rise. A 
few similar experiments will teach your child one great truth; 
the law of nature, that heat expands, and cold contracts, all 
bodies ; that, therefore, a clock or watch goes slower in warm 
weather than in cold, because the pendulum is longer; that a 
red-hot tire, put on to a wagon-wheel, may be comparatively 
loose ; but as it cools, becomes very tight, so as to make the 
wheel strong, &c. And remember, that when you have taught 
them this law of nature, you have taught them a lesson they 
will never forget; a lesson they will have occasion almost daily 
to use, a principle with which they will instinctively associate 

I f Few children, even of twelve years old, know that th'ey have a 
stomach. They know that fowls have gizzards, and cattle, hogs, &c, 
paunches, (which some people relish,) because they have seen them 
butchered; yet, do not know that they also have a digesting apparatus for 
disposing of the food daily consumed. 



28 ANALYSIS OF COMPARISON. 

every like fact they ever learn, which, without this association 
would soon be forgotten ; a lesson in reasoning or the first, 
complete, and the most important intellectual process, namely, 
that of inductive reasoning, or reasoning from facts Jo the 
laws that govern them. 

But, before completing the remarks on this head, I must 
analyze other organs in order to show how to train them all to 
combined action, and proceed with 

COMPARISON : 

Or, discovering the unknown from its resemblance to the 
known; reasoning from parallel cases, or from a collec- 
tion of similar facts up to the laws or first principles that 
govern them : detecting error from its opposition to facts, 
or from its incongruity with truth : ability and disposi- 
tion to classify phenomena and things : perceiving and 
applying the principles of Analogy, or the resemblance 
of things : ability to generalize, compare, discriminate, 
fyc. : critical acumen : inductive reasoning : 'power of ex- 
plaining and illustrating : disposition to use comparisons, 
suppose similar cases, employ similes, metaphors, 
figures of speech, 8?c. 

Adaptation. The principles of analogy and resemblance, 
run throughout the whole range of creation. All human be- 
ings closely resemble each other. All have a nose, mouth, 
brain, heart, eyes, bones, muscles, hands, feet, &c, and in 
much the same relative position. The resemblance of every 
animal to every other animal of its own species, and indeed to 
all other animals, man included, is very striking : and so of 
the balance of creation. This resemblance of things teaches 
us a vast proportion of. all we know. Thus, seated around a 
winter's fire, eating an apple, we feel as sure that it grew on 
an apple-tree instead of in the ground, or in an animal, like an 
egg, as that we are eating jt, and yet we did not see it growing 
there.. If fire be brought in contact with flesh; we know be- 
forehand that it will burn, and cause pain instead of pleasure, 
and pain of a certain kind. But how do we know this ? Be- 
cause this fire and flesh are similar to all other fire and flesh, 
and Comparison tells Eventuality that the effect of bringing 
the two in contact will be like the effect experienced a thou- 
sand times before by applying fire to the flesh. On seeing a 
stranger, of whose habits we know nothing, we infer from his 



RENDERING REMEMBRANCE PLEASURABLE. 25 

control you can employ; because, the pain felt in contemplating 
the wrong, a,nd the pleasure connected wkh a review of the 
good and the virtuous, will instinctively lead you to avoid the 
former and practice the latter; and for precisely the same 
reason that a burnt child keeps out of the fire, namely, because 
it pained him, or that a happy man seeks again and again the 
tauseof that happiness. Does not this course commend itself to 
the good sense of the reader, at least enough to secure a trial? 

This same course should be pursued by parents and teachers 
in regard to children. Ask them what they have seen to-day, 
and when they tell you one or more things, ask thenv what 
else, and then what else, and get them to tell over all the par- 
ticulars of the doings of the day, which will cultivate their 
Language as well as Eventuality. Then induce them to tell 
over what they saw at such and such times that you may name; 
to tell you the story you told them about Franklin, or Wash- 
ington, or tjhe Revolution, &c, which may have before been 
told them. Let the elder children tell stories to the younger, 
and let the aged and doting grand-father tell them the habits 
of men when he was a boy, and recount to them the scenes of 
his youth, &c. 

Closely connected with this subject, is one of great import- 
ance, namely, having the recollections of childhood and youth 
all pleasurable. Man not only recalls the past, but he enjoys 
or suffers from those recollections. A single dark spot, a single 
act of our lives that leaves a moral stain upon its recollection, 
is ever afterwards capable of piercing us with the keenest of 
pangs, while the recollection of what is pleasurable, throws a 
bright beam of pleasure upon us every time it is recalled, equal 
to that experienced in the event itself, which thus doubles the 
pleasure connected with the event a thousand times. Hence, 
it is immensely important that all our recollections should be 
pleasurable — that childhood and youth should be made, and 
should render themselves as happy as possible ; which will 
greatly facilitate and induce that exercise, and consequent im- 
provement, in the memory we are urging. 

I now put it to the common sense of every reflecting mind 
whether the course thus far pointed out, does not commend* 
itself to every reflecting mind as infinitely superior to the pres- 
ent method of educating children ? whether it does not account 



26 SHOWING CHILDREN EXEPRIMENTS. 

for the miserably poor memories of most adults by ascribing 
it to their not being exercised? whether this not exercising 
the memory is not caused by children's want of interest in 
the common studies of the schools ? and whether this course 
is not in perfect harmony with the nature, laws, and action of 
mind, particularly in children ? If so, let it be adopted. 

Another important suggestion, growing out of this analysis 
of Eventuality is, showing them experiments, chemical, phil- 
osophical, &c, &c. " What /" exclaims an astounded reader, 
" teach children chemistry, natural philosophy, natural history 
&c., and that before they are taught to read? I thought 
you were a crazy simpleton before, but now I know you are." 
Wait, reader, till we see whether'this craziness and utter folly 
do not appertain to the present course of early education, in- 
stead of to this phrenological course. After showing the child 
things, flowers, animals, the contents of museums, &c., as point- 
ed out under the head of Individuality, and telling them sto- 
ries, and exciting their Eventuality, as just described, show 
them the changes and phenomena of matter. Show them the 
whole process of vegetation, from planting the seed in the 
ground, up through all. of its changes of swelling, sprouting, 
taking root, shooting forth out of the ground, becoming a thri \ 
ving plant or vegetable, budding, blossoming, shedding its 
blossoms, and producing seed like that from which it sprung. 
And what if, in thus examining these most interesting changes, 
they do pull up now and then a blade of corn, or kernel of 
wheat, or a valuable plants will not the pleasure and instruc- 
tion thereby afforded them, repay the loss a thousand folcj ? 
Show them how acorns produce oaks; peach or cherry stones^ 
peach or cherry trees, which again produce peaches or cherg 
ries, and so of other trees and things. Then put a spoonful of 
vinegar into a glass of water, and stir in ashes or pearlash, or 
any other alkali, and watch their surprise and delight at seeing 
it foam and froth, perhaps rUn over. Then explain to them 
how pearlash is made by draining water through lye, boiling 
down the lye till it becomes thick and hard, then melting it, and 
at last refining it; and, then show them how taking this alkali 
»in the form of pearlash, or even by drinking water into which 
ashes have been put, is calculated to cleanse a sour stomach by 
the two combining, and neutralizing each other. 



ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS OF CHILDREN. 31 

remember it ; and, when they wish to attain a certain end, they 
will operate by means of them. 

This is the organ through which explanations mainly enter 
the mind • and hence, great pains should be taken to explain 
every thing, not to get rid of your children, but to instruct them. 
They ask a great many questions, which are either ivhat what 
questions, or why why questions, and every opportunity of 
conveying instruction thereby afforded, should be embraced. 
I well remember once asking my father, who was husking 
corn, why a certain ear, the rows on which were irregular, 
looked so. different from all the rest ? u Because it is not rowed,'" 
was his answer. Over this answer I thought, and thought, and 
thought what he could mean, and finalfy concluded that, as he 
went through the cornfields to hoe the corn, so he probably 
went through to row it, but skipped this ear. Now see how 
excellent an opportunity this question afforded for teaching me 
the important lesson that nature showed economy in every 
thing — that by the cobs being round, more corn could grow in 
a given space than in any other shape; that the kernels were 
all placed In rows so that all might be filled up ; for, if they 
were not in rows, some kernels would be too much crowded, 
and in other places there would be nothing; and, that the hu- 
man body was contrived so as to bring the greatest possible 
number and amount of functions into the smallest possible 
space ; and so of all the other operations of nature. Every 
day and hour the continual string of questions asked by chil- 
dren, affords opportunities to explain some important truth, or 
teach some valuable lesson ; and yet, strange inconsistency ! 
many parents become angry at their children for asking so 
many questions, or else turn them off with those answers that 
are not satisfactory.* This questioning is as important to the 
intellectual growth of children, as the root is to a tree or plant ; 
and yet, wonderful to tell, in our present system of education, 

*An unusually inquisitive, that is, uncommonly smart child, once 
asked her grandmother " what bricks were made out of;" and was told 
" of sand and clay." " Then what makes them red ?" asked the child ; 
" O do hold your tongue. Don't ask so many questions and no one will 
know you are a fool. Little girls should be seen not heard," was the 
repfy. The grandmother could not tell why, and, therefore, became angry 
at the child for asking. J 



32 ANALYSIS OF CAUSALITY. 

no provision is made for answering these questions. What 
questions can or do children ask at school ? Almost none. 
Now we appeal whether answering these questions does not do 
them far more good than learning to read? Does it not exercise, 
and thereby improve, their intellects far more ? for, let it never 
be forgotten that in order to enlargethe intellectual organs, they 
must be exercised, and what interests, excites, and thereby 
enlarges them ; but what does not interest, does not excite, or 
enlarge, or benefit them. Looking at the present method of 
education through the optics of Phrenology, or through the 
principles already pointed out, which is the only correct light 
in which it can be viewed, I really do not see how it is possi- 
ble to devise a more effectual method of deadening the action 
of the brain, or weakening, instead of strengthening, the facul- 
ties of the mind; for, surely, no course would be less interesting, 
aye, more, none could scarcely be more disagreeable to 
them, and therefore, (not less beneficial, which would imply 
some good, but) more injurious; for, the present course is be- 
yond all question decidedly detrimental. With my present 
knowledge of the subject, I boldly avow my preference to re- 
main untaught, than to be sent to our present common schools. 
They are injuries instead of blessings, and Phrenology will 
soon sweep them into oblivion, or else effectually remodel them. 
See if it does not, and that speedily. 

We have other remarks belonging more appropriately to 
Comparison than to any other faculty ; yet, as education, to be 
successful, must combine th.e exercise of all the intellectual fac- 
ulties, we can present them much better after we have analyzed. 

CAUSALITY: 
Or power of perceiving and employing the principles of cau- 
sation : ability to discover and apply first principles, and 
trace out the relations existing between causes and effects : 
desire to know the why and wherefore of things : abili- 
ty to reason, or draw conclusions from given premises*: 
to plan, invent, contrive, adapt means to ends, take the 
advantage of circumstances, create resources, apply power 
most advantageously, and make the head save the hands : 
to predict the results of given measures, and tell what 
will be from what has been : sagacity : the leading ele- 
ment of common sense : the therefore and wherefore 
faculty. 



ANALYSIS OP COMPARISON. 29 

similarity to other human beings, that he requires food, sleep, 
and breath, and that he cannot eat iron or arsenic, that he has 
lungs, a heart, stomach} &c, and that they are in a certain 
part of his body, &c. How do we know without trying it, 
that a certain tree, cut up and put on a fire, will burn, throw 
out heat, and produce ashes and smoke ; that a given stone 
thrown into the air, will fall to the earth ; that water will run 
down an inclined plane ; that cutting off a sheep's head will 
kill it; that ice is cold and fire hot ; that animals will bring 
forth, each after its kind ; that food will nourish, earthen- 
ware break, and a sharp edge cut ; that a fish grew in the wa- 
ter, and that a bird cannot live long immersed in that element ? 
The faculty of Comparison teaches us, not only these, but 
thousands of other things of every day occurrence, about 
which we know nothing except from their resemblance to 
other things which we have known to be what we infer of 
these. This is doubtless one of the most valuable, if not de- 
cidedly the most valuable, of the Intellectual Faculties. These 
illustrations show how vast the amount of knowledge com- 
municated by it ; and, consequently, how important its proper 
cultivation. 

It should be added, that, there are doubtless two faculties of 
Comparison : that the lower acts with the perceptive faculties, 
comparing physical things, and thereby teaches us physical les 
sons ; and that the upper acts with the moral faculties, com- 
paring ideas, analyzing, discriminating, criticising, and giving 
logical acumen. There are, also, in all probability, two or- 
gans of Eventuality ; the inside one for remembering the 
scenes and associations of childhood and youth ; the outside 
organ for recollecting business transactions, and the occur- 
rences of the day, week, year, and latter part of life ; and, two 
of Individuality \ the inner for recollecting things lately seen \ 
the outer, for noticing and remembering things seen in child- 
hood. 

Having shown that this faculty lies at the very basis of 
much of our knowledge, it should be added, that it is one of 
the first intellectual organs developed in children, following 
closely after that of Individuality and Eventuality, and is in- 
dispensable in order to complete almost every mental operation. 
To children it is still more important. Without it, they would 



34 TEACHING CHILDREN TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES. 

rents, and be allowed and encouraged freely to ask all the 
questions that occur to them ; and let parents in giving these 
answers, give the true cause or none. Many parents — some- 
times because they do not know how to answer their questions- 
and sometimes to quiz them, but more often because the minds 
of the parents themselves are biased by wrong principles — 
teach their children to believe instead of think : or to think 
erroneously by teaching them to think from incorrect data, 
which warps their Causality from the very first. Children 
should be taught to do their own thinkings and to answer their 
own questions. They asked a question yesterday, to which a 
correct answer was given ; to-day they ask another, and re- 
ceive a correct answer, and to-morrow, ask a third, the answer 
to which, or the principle involved, was explained yesterday. 
Recall these answers, and tell them to put that and that to- 
gether, and judge for themselves as to the results about which 
they inquire. In other words, give them the data, and then let 
themihiniv, judge, and act for themselves. 

Little fear need be entertained about their coming to incor- 
rect conclusions ; for, Causality, and all the other intellectual 
faculties, act by intuition, and, unbiased, will always come to 
correct conclusions. That same intuition, or instinct, or what 
you please, which makes the child breathe, and nurse, and 
sleep, also governs the actions of all its faculties, the intellectual 
ncluded. It teaches Individuality to observe, and observe 
correctly; Eventuality, to remember action ; Form/to know 
whether a thing is round, square, conical, &c, and to recollect 
the shape of things ; Size, to tell them correctly the bulk of 
things, their distance, &c. ; Weight, to resist and counteract the 
laws of gravity: Comparison, to generalize; and Causality 
to reason and adapt means to ends. All that Causality re- 
quires in order to come to correct conclusions, is to have the 
right data placed before it. Far too many parents do the 
thinking for their chilren when they are young, and this makes 
them get it done out, when they are older. This explains the 
decrease of Causality in children. Has the reader never ob- 
served the fine, noble foreheads of children, their height, 
their expanse, and those marked protuberances at the sides of 



INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY OF CHILDREN. 35 

the upper parts of their foreheads which characterize their in- 
tellectual developments ? Cast your eye over the foreheads 
of a hundred children, and then of a hundred adults, and if 
you do not see a marked superiority of the former over the 
latter in proportion, then you do not see what I am daily pain- 
ed to observe — pained, not because children have such fine 
heads, but, because adults have so poor ones. I do not hesi- 
tate to stake my reputation on the opinion that the difference 
is from one^fourth to one-half in favor of children, and against 
adults; whereas, the difference should be in favor of adults; 
because the law of our nature, as explained on pp. 31-33, 
shows that the mental temperament and faculties are destined 
to increase in a far greater ratio than the physical powers, or 
organs of the feelings. 

The intellectual capacities of children are also far superior 
in proportion, to those of adults. Observe their remarks. Are 
they not often full of pith, and meaning, and idea ? Do they 
not often expose the absurdity of the dogmas that are taught 
them ? Do' they not discover a sagacity, a penetration, a 
quickness, an intuitive comprehension of things, not found in 
them whengrown up ? And do they not discover a power of 
contrivance altogether astonishing ? I was never more sur- 
prised than on seeing a little girl, not yet eighteen months old, 
praise her aunt in order to obtain from her, sugar and other 
favors. When she said "pretty aunt Charlotte," or "aunt 
Charlotte your dress is pretty," aunt Charlotte knew that she 
was coaxing her, and working around upon her blind side in 
order to get a favor. Wherua little over two years old, as the 
family, in connexion with her uncle, were eating almonds and 
raisins in the evening, she awoke, and knowing that it was 
useless to ask father, or mother, or aunt for them, went to her 
uncle, whom she did not like any too well, and laying her 
head back affectionately upon his lap, said, in a very coaxing 
t one and manner, "pretty uncle Lorenzo. Uncle Lorenzo is 
good." The next morning her mother asked her "what made 
uncle L. pretty ?" "Because almonds and raisins is pretty/ 
was her artless reply. To administer praise as a means o 
obtaining favors, without ever having been taught to do so, 
and that at eighteen months old, certainly required an exer 



38 

over mankind, converting them into mere tools and dupes to 
carry forward their selfish foolish or villainous objects — that 
riches are more highly esteemed than talents— that men who 
live on the Approbativeness, or Combativeness. or Alimentive 
ness, or curiosity, or almost any other feeling of mankind, suc- 
ceed to a charm, while those who live by their intellects, usually 
starve — why reforms make so slow progress, and effect so little 
— why the conversation of young people, especially of fash- 
ionable ladies, is soft and nonsensical — why the few are ena- 
bled to control the many — why so little time is devoted to intelj 
lectual culture, and so much to the gratification of the passions; 
why so little is yet known of nature, her laws and doings; why, 
in short, the intellectual lobe of men is so small, and the pro- 
pensities so large. 

But how can this organ be cultivated by adults, especially 
by young people ? Simply by thinking, musing, meditating, 
contemplating, and inquiring at the shrine of nature into the 
laws and principles that govern things. 

"But I've nothing to think about," says one. Poor soul, 
you are to be pitied. A world of wonders even within youi 
self, and yet, barren heath ,*you've nothing to think about J A 
world of wonders above your head and beneath your feet, and 
yet, poor thought-ridden mortal, yov've nothing to think about. 
All nature around you teeming with events, every one of 
which has its cause, and most of them a cause within your 
reach, and yet, thought-starved mortal, you've nothing to 
"think about ! Poor thing, you shall have a name and a place 
among other idiots. 

To any young person, then, I say, think. Wherever you 
are, whatever you are doing, if you see anything you do not 
comprehend, whether in nature or art, ferret out its cause, and 
then think about it : do not be ashamed to expose your ignor- 
ance in order to gain knowledge. Take a* walk every day, 
two or three times a day to think, muse, meditate, contem- 
plate. 

" Oh, but I'm too t>usy for that," says one. Then you ought 
to be too busy to eat and sleep ; for the mind requires food 
and exercise as much as the body. " But I hav r e not sufficient 
time even to eat and sleep," is the reply. No matter, then, 
for you must find time to die the sooner for not thinking. In- 



NTGHT THINKING AND STUDY HIGHLY INJURIOUS. 39 

tellectual culture is directly calculated to prolong life, as well 
as a means of rendering it much more happy, and of effecting 
much more. Even as a means of accomplishing mere ivorldly 
ends, you will be a gainer by cultivating your intellects ; for, 
its increased power will enable you to save more time by 
taking a shorter and surer road to ^our ends, than you lose in 
its culture. Besides : there is hardly an occupation in life, 
which does not allow of more or less opportunities for thought ; 
for, whilst the hands are employed in labor, the mind can also 
be employed in meditation. Of all occupations suitable for 
intellectual culture, farming is the most favorable. Labor is 
promotive of mental action, whilst mornings, evenings,* rainy 
days, &c., increase these facilities. 

The study of Phrenology is also highly promotive of intel- 
lectual eulture ; because, first, it deeply interests, and thereby 
excites the mind to new and vigorous action ; and, secondly, 
it opens a far richer mine of thought, and field of intellectual 
research, than all other studies united, for it unfolds man. 

I will just add that night thinking is highly injurious. While 
the natural sun pours its benign rays upon the delighted world, 
let your thoughts be also poured out upon the fields of nature, 
to be gathered in, expanded and instructed, as he descends be- 
neath the western sky. Rise with the sun, or rather, with the 
break of day, nerve your mind gradually to action, as the skilful 
hunter gradually strains his unstrung bow, and be ready to 
CGjnimence your day of intellectual vigor with the rising of the 
sun, and, by the time he disappears in the west, you should 
have exhausted your cerebral energy for the day, and be sink- 
ing with him into the refreshing slumbers of night, to re- 
awaken and rise again with him the next day. 

I will just observe in passing, that if you have anything to 
do more important than cultivating your intellects, do, in all 

* The allusion here made to farmer's studying evenings, ie adapt- 
ed, not to the nature of man, but to that false custom of setting up late 
at night, a practice as reprehensible and injurious as it is universal. 
The good old Yankee custom of retiring at least by nine o'clock, is 
well worthy its high origin. All children should be taught to retire with 
the setting of the sun, and all adults should practice it, and lectures, 
meetings, &c, should be held in the day time. But -more of this in 
another place. 



40 ANALYSIS AND ADAPTATION OF LANGUAGE. 

conscience do it. If you cannot spare time from the fashiona- 
ble world, or the working world, or the political world, or the 
religious world, or the trading world, or the money-making 
world, or the ambitious world, then do go on ; for, your busi- 
ness is indeed of the utmost importance. All these things 
must of course be done up* first, and intellect be thurst away 
back behind them all; because, if a man be rich, he gets 
along: well enough without intellect ; if poor, he has no time 
or means to use it; if he has on a fashionable coat, or can 
make a dandified bow, intellect would spoil both ; if she be a 
young woman, she must first get married, and study how to 
attract the admiration of gentlemen instead of thinking; but 
if married, must take care of her family and children ; and so 
it goes the world over. Hence, intellect is considered of very 
little account any how, and not worth the time or pains of 
raising, except to a few in an age. 

LANGUAGE. 
The communicating faculty : power of expressing one's 
ideas by words, both spoken and written : ability to learn 
spoken languages, and to use such words as will exactly 
express one's ideas : memory of words : versatility of 
expression : talkativeness, volubility, garrulity. 

Adaptation. Man is a communicative being. He has 
thoughts and feelings wr*jch he wishes to express, and which 
his fellow men may be profited by hearing. This faculty is 
adapted to the exchange and inter-communication of ideas be- 
tween man and man, and is highly promotive of human hap- 
piness and improvement. Besides being one of the most pow- 
erful stimulators imaginable of nearly every one of the other 
faculties, it is certainly' an instrument of intellectual improve- 
ment, and moral and social enjoyment unsurpassed by any 
other faculty. 

Let every human being be tongue-tied, let every word ever 
used be blotted from existance, and writing, printing and read- 
ing totally abolished, and what an intellectual, moral, social 
and business stagnation would follow ! Nothing could be sent 
for; the American Phrenological Journal must stop; scarcely 
a want expressed or supplied, and man's condition in every 
way most wretched. Bat, thanks to the great and good Au- 
thor of our being, man can talk, write, speak, chain and be 



STUDYING THE DEAD LANGUAGES. 41 

chained to the mighty car of eloquence, and drink in the 
thoughts and feelings of others, in all their endless number and 
variety. 

The value and uses of this faculty being great, its proper 
cultivation is equally important. How then, can it be cultiva 
ted? Do I not hear a word-bereft stammerer say, "Oh, I 
would give air I have to be able to express what I think and 
feel ! to have the power of transplanting my ideas, and infu- 
sing my thoughts into the minds of my fellow-men? to be elo- 
quent, to be fascinating in conversrtion, in short to have large 
language ? I have tried my best, I have studied Greek and 
Latin — have translated Homer, Virgil, Demosthenes, Cicero, 
and Horace ; have learned Hebrew and Arabic, French and 
Spanish, and yet, I cannot speak in public, or even express my 
ideas freely in conversation," Then I pity you ; for, you have 
been walking a' treadmill all your life to get forward, but have 
gone backward faster than forward. I can put you upon the 
track of cultivating your Language in short order. Go to talk- 
ing. That is what you have to do. Just talk, talk, talk. 
This will exercise the organ of language, and increase your 
power of expression, whereas, studying the dead languages 
from books, will do you more harm than good. "It will? 
Why you astonish me ; I thought this was the way to cultivate 
it!" and that is just where the learned have always erred. 
The one, distinctive office of Language is Jo employ words to 
communicate ideas, especially orally ; and the one and only 
method of materially improving it is to communicate, especi- 
ally to talk. This point is clear and certain, and though at war 
with the whole learned world, it is right. To set a child "on 
a bench to say A," and to send a youth to the academy and 
college to learn languages, in order to make him a fluent speak- 
er, is sending him to the equator for ice, or to the poles for flow- 
ers. By preventing his talking, it rusts his organ of language, 
making him worse instead of better. But the most serious 
point of this serious evil is, the injury it does to his health, 
which directly impairs the tone and power of the organ, and 
thereby weakens the faculty. The law that produces this re- 
sult, will be explained elsewhere. Sufficient for the present to 
say, that this organ, being close to the body, partakes intimate- 



42 PREVENTING CHILDRENS' TALKING INJURIOUS. 

ly of the state of the body, being weakened or strengthened as 
the physical powers are increased or impaired. Most college 
graduates break down their health, and weaken instead of in- 
creasing, their speaking and talking talents. Has the reader 
never observed that he could converse, write, and speak with 
infinitely greater ease when well, than when unwell? This 
principle explains the cause, and teaches you this valuable les- 
son, that, in cultivating both your own and your child's lang- 
uage, health should be preserved first of all. Confining chil- 
dren in school, prevents exercise and physical development, 
and this reduces thepow^r and versatility of Language. 

All children are insessant talkers. Whether or not they 
have ideas to communicate, is quite immaterial. Their tongues 
are always running. Their prattle is incessant. Not so with 
adults, especially with Yankees. Now why this falling off of 
Language ? Attend to my reply. " Hark ! Who is that whis- 
pering there ? Stop that whispering yonder, or I'll box your 
ears for you," says a school master to a child with large Lan- 
guage. And if, prompted by the instinctive workings of this 
faculty, another is caught whispering, he is surely punished. 
Better punish him for breathing or getting hungry; for, each of 
the three is equally natural and useful; and to punish for 
either, is cruel and unjust. In giving them Language and a 
tongue, the Author of their being gave them the desire and. 
the right to use them in talking: nay, he even*made talking 
their duty as well as privilege. Who, then, art thou, teacher 
or parent, that dare suppress this right derived from heaven, 
or punish its exercise ? God and the child will hold you guilty 
for doing it ; the former, for nullifying his works, and the latter, 
for weakening so pleasurable and useful a faculty. 

Then what shall we do? for we cannot have the whole 
school jabbering away so that we can't hear ourselves think," 
say the teachers. Then send your children home. " But,'' 
says a parent, "how in the world can I get along with all my 
children pothering me, and deafening me with their eternal 
clatter ? I must send them to school in order to get rid of 
them, and when there, they must keep still, or I'll whip them." 
Good lady, if your children are so very much in your way, 
you had better not have any. But since you have them, con- 
sult their good, and especially intellectual advancement, not 



PREVENTING CHILDREN'S TALKING INJURIOUS. 43 

your own comfort. Phrenology says, let children talk all they 
please, and who art thou to "muzzle the mouth of the ox that 
treadeth out the corn ?" 

Besides, all will concede that expressing the ideas, increases 
their flow, and quickens the action of the mind. This truth 
is too self-evident to require either proof or illustration. Pre- 
venting your children from talking or whispering, is prevent- 
ing them from exercising, and thereby enlarging, their intel- 
lects. " But must I be forever harrassed by their incessant 
chamoring and hallooing ? Have I not a perfect right to keep 
them still?" Just such a right as you have to stop their breath- 
ing or eating, or to cut off their heads, or as the Hindoo mother 
has to drown them. You certainly have no right to cramp, 
or in any way embarrass the development of their intellects. 

The best possible method of making a child an eloquent 
speaker, is to allow him the full, unrestrained use of his tongue 
during childhood and youth ; but, send him to school, and let 
him be kept from saying a word there for the seven hours of 
the fourteen he is awake, and kept very still at home the rest 
of it, and then send him to college to break his constitution in 
thumbing lexicons, allowing him little chance to speak except 
passages committed to memory from some bombastic speaker, 
and, when he graduates, have him always speak from notes, 
(excuse the self-contradiction of speaking a written discourse,) 
-and if he does not make as dull and prosy a speaker (?) as the 
generality of our college graduates are, and as formal and ar- 
tificial in tone and gesture as though mind and body were lash- 
ed in a staight jacket, then water will not run down hill. Com- 
pare our Methodist clergymen with our Presbyterian, and tell 
me which class is the most eloquent ? Those who mount the 
pulpit, and go to speaking from the first. Scarcely a spark 
of true eloquence escapes college-learned clergymen, except 
what congeals on the pen. Seldom do written discourses come 
from the heart or reach the heart. Eloquence can never be 
written— can never be dug up among Latin rubbish or Gre- 
cian mythology. No ! it must be felt and spoken. Nor does 
it coi'sist in words merely, nor in the ideas, but mainly in the 
thrilling, melting tones of the voice. 

How glorious a gift is that of eloquence ! See it in Demos- 
thenes, when he made his listeners sieze their arms, and cry 



44 MEANS OE PROMOTING ELOQUENCE. 

out, " Let us march against Philip. Let us conquer or die" 
— in Patrick Henry, when he roused and electrified Congress, 
and prepared the way for drafting the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence ; and in a few others who, by this power, exerted 
an almost unlimited influence over the minds of their fellow 
men. To say that there is a thousand times more natural 
eloquence in man than is brought out by culture, or by the 
modern method of education, or rather, to say that most of our 
natural eloquence is buried in our school-houses, academies, 
and seats of learning, is to utter a palpable but lamentable 
truth. You who hesitate for words, who have ideas but do 
not know ho.w to let others have them, who lose much of the 
force and beauty of your ideas, or the power of your feelings, 
in vain attempts to communicate them, who hesitate for 
words, and want to say something but can not, may thank 
your "setting on a bench and saying A" — your being boxed, 
or ferruled, or disgraced for whispering in school, and kept 
still at home for it. In other words, thank those who sup- 
pressed, when they should have encouraged your talking dis- 
position. From such thankless thanks, "good Lord deliver us." 
If you wish to regain this lost sheep, go to talking. Drive 
out your ideas somehow, anyhow ; but, at all events give them 
wind. Join debating societies, and speaking clubs, and make 
talk with every one you meet. Commit to memory, and re- 
peat; in short, communicate and use words as much and as 
well as possible. This will call this faculty into action, and 
improve it, as well as enlarge the organ. It is worth your 
trial. Especially if you wish to become a public speaker, 
speak in public, and take down your notes in your brain, 
employing the principle already presented. 
* Much pains are taken to teach children good grammar. 
This may be obviated. Your rules of parsing, &c, are of little 
service. I will point out a far more excellent way. Let pa- 
rents only speak properly, and always use good language, and 
their children will do the same. To speak and write properly, 
is as natural as to speak at all, and this is as natural as seeing 
or breathing, because each is the intutive exercise of its appro- 
priate faculty. The error commences in the cradle. Parents, 
especially mothers, usually talk baby talk to their children, 



TALKING TO CHILDREN GRAMMATICALLY. 45 

which consists in saying silly things ungrammatically. If in- 
fants do need milk to nourish their bodies, they certainly do 
not need silliness to feed their minds. Talk ideas to them 
or say nothing, and speak grammatically, and also use good 
language, and your children will do the same. 

A word more as to this baby nonsense. Like excites like. 
This is as true of infants, comparatively, as of adults. Chil- 
dren over two years old, understand, or are capable, of under- 
standing most that is said to them. If ideas are spoken, their 
ideas' are excited, and intellect, developed; and, if good language 
be used, they will not only imitate the same, but even feel 
their sentiment of the beautiful excited, and good taste there- 
by cultivated, besides having matter for reflection. "A word 
to the wise." The conversation of parents to their children, and 
of adults before children, might and should furnish an intel- 
lectual feast to their opening minds —should be grammatical- 
ly expressed, and clothed in goodimguage. Then will chil- 
dren, too, speak correctly, and charm you with the beauty and 
power of their words, as well as grow up with superior and 
fascinating conversational powers, if not become natural ora- 
tors, and man's enjoyment derived from talking and listening 
be augmented twenty-fold. 

Parents, will you not be persuaded to banish your baby 
balderdash, and your grovelling associations, and elevate and 
instruct your children by conversation, as well as by example ? 

In what has been said relative to learning the dead lan- 
guages, the reader is not to infer that I consider a knowledge 
of them useless or valueless, or am hostile to their being, 
taught, and learned. I approve of them highly, but I repudi- 
ate the modern nut hod of teaching them j for, it is tinphreno 
logical The method of teaching and learning them pointed 
out by Phrenology is, talking them. Books may be used as 
an auxiliary, merely, but not as the main method, Besides* 
their spending several-years of the best portion of their lives 
in acquiring Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, they usually forget, ail 
they ever knew about them, soon after leaving college, ff 
they would have a school for teaching Greek, or Latin, or 

% *See the article on a kindred subject in the Journal department, 
signed Cormac, It is worthy of high commendation, though not re* 
ceived till the text was prepared, 



46 TEACHING CHILDREN GRAMMAR. 

Hebrew, in which all the conversation was in the language 
they were learning, besides acquiring a thorough knowledge in 
one-tenth the usual time, they would then retain this knowl- 
edge, and be able to turn it to some practical account. The 
modern method of teaching French, by taking the pupil into 
a school and family where no other language is spoken, ex- 
cept in explanation of what they are learning is the only true 
one. But the best time to learn the languages, is in childhood, 
the nurse, or parent, or teacher, talking these languages to them. 

Committing to memory comes under this organ, and is a 
valuable quality. The extent to which this power can be car- 
ried, is astonishing. A clergyman in England, delivered a 
lengthy address from manuscript, which he refused to let be 
published. One of his listeners, however, wrote it out from 
memory, and on comparing- the two, there were only four- 
teen words that were not the same in both, and these were 
analogous. 

Every body knows Attree of the Herald. As a reporter, 
he has few equals, and yet does not write short hand. Still, 
he gives his reports almost verbatim. His organ of Language 
is large, and he commits wr writes a speech from memory, 
with astonishing facility. In a recent conversation with him, 
he remarked that, unless he kept it in habitual exercise, this 
faculty became rusty. This power of committing to memory, 
is extraordinary in most children, and should always be kept 
vigorous by exercise. They love to learn by rote, and they 
should be indulged in it. This exercise can and should be 
commenced long before they are old enough to learn to read, 
and continued through life. Printers in particular require it. 

FORM. 

Cognizance and recollection of the shape of objects, and of 
the faces or countenances of persons, of the form and 
looks of things, of family resemblances, fyc: good eye- 
sight. 

A-daptation. Every physical thing, all the pieces or items 
of matter which constitute our world, have some form, or 
shape. No physical thing can exist, without having some shape 
or«configuration. By means of it, we are able to designate 
and remember one person or thing from another. Infinite wis- 
dom has wisely given the quality of shape to all bodies, and, at 
the same time imparted to man the faculty of Form, to enable 
him to perceive and make a useful application of this elementa- 
yfy property of matter. Without this element in nature, man 
could not recognize his fellow man, or any thing in nature ; but, 
with it fully developed, he recollects persons and things seen 
years ago, and distinguishes the animal, vegetable, or miner- 
al kingdom by their shape. 



47 WHEN AND HOW TO TEACH READING. 

This is one of the principle faculties employed in reading 
and spelling, though Language renders important assistance ; 
Form by recollecting the shape 6f letters and words, and 
Language, by committing to memory. This leads me to speak 
of two important errors in the present method of teaching 
reading and spelling : first, of teaching children the shape of 
letters instead of words, the other, of teaching them to spell by 
rote — E by the way it sounds, instead of by the looks of the 
word. 

From what has before been said against teaching young chil- 
dren to read, let it not be supposed that I am opposed to their 
being taught these branches at all. Though I believe learning 
to read so as to understand the sense, requires much maturity 
and strength of mind, and though teaching children to read me- 
chanically by rote merely, just as a par-rot says "pretty polly," 
is a positive injury by compelling them to call the words but 
skipping the sense, and fall into that monotonous sameness of 
tone which characterizes most readers, adults as well as chil- 
dren, and is easily detected iti most speakers, especially clergy- 
men ; still, after the way has been prepared by reading inter- 
esting stories to them, and kindling in them a desire to read, so 
as to read these stories themselves, and after they are capable 
of comprehending the sense, they should by all means be 
taught to read. Few, if any children, are capable of this be- 
fore they are six or eight years old, and when they begin to 
tease you to teach them how to read, because they wish to 
enjoy reading, almost any child could be taught to read in one 
month and to read better than he would havre read if he had 
begun at three years old. The reason is obvious. By begin- 
ning to read before they are capable of understanding the 
sense, they not only take no interest in the matter, and there- 
fore learn slowly, but often conceive a dislike to reading, and 
hence read only when compelled to. But, wait till they are 
eager to learn, and they will take the deepest interest in the 
matter, and form a teste for it, which is of immense advant- 
age. Scarcely one child in fifty but hates study, and the reason 
is here disclosed — they learn to read before they are able to 
understand what they read, and therefore conceive a dislike to 
books, which lasts through life. The mother of Wesley would 
not let her son learn a letter till the day he was five years old, 
and that day she taught him every letter of the alphabet; and, 
the next day, she taught him to read the first verse in the Bible.* 
I have always brought out this point at my lecture on the 
intellectual organs, and have afterward been waited upon by 
hundreds who have stated facts showing that children from 
six to eight years old, could be taught to read well in one 
month. In 1337, I gave this lecture in New Haven, and in 
going to New York the next day, a gentleman, one of the 



48 TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ IN A MONTH. 

theological students, stated as an illustration of this point, that 
a friend of his forbid his boy learning a letter or opening a 
book till he was six years old; that, by that time, the boy's 
desire to read had kindled almost to a passion ; and that, in 
one month, he learned to read fluently in the Bible, and had 
ever since been devoted to books. Hundreds of similar facts 
have been told me, and if any parent will pursue a similar 
course, I stand sponsor for the result. 

But I will point out a method of teaching childron to read, 
shorter and better than the present, and one that will obviate 
two-thirds of the difficulty connected with reading. It is this. 
Teach your child words instead of letters. Thus: it is just 
as easy for your child to learn has, as to learn h, or a, or s; and 
this method saves him that immense difficulty of compounding 
the elementary sounds. And it must come to this after all. I 
appeal to every good proof-reader in Christendom, whether he 
does not detect typographical errors by the looks of the word, 
not by spelling it over, or by remembering its gingle. The 
word looks wrong. It strikes his eye as incorrect. In other 
words, Form is the proper organ for spelling and reading, and 
therefore children should be taught to read and spell by the 
looks of words, not by rote. And this cultivates the organ of 
Form, or the natural organ for reading and spelling. 

To cultivate this faculty, bear in mind the countenances of 
those you see, so that you may know them again. Formerly, 
the circus performers and exhibitors of live animals, often 
allowed those who visited them in the forenoon, to pass in 
free in the afternoon or evening. If they gave tickets, they 
would be transferred, so that others would go in. Hence, the 
door-keeper was compelled to recollect them. To do this, 
he was obliged to look shar 'ply, not at their dress, which might 
be changed, but at their faces. I have seen scores of trials, 
and every device contrived, to cheat the door-keeper, but never 
saw a failure. I regarded this as almost supernatural, but now 
see that their vigorous exercise of Form, enabled them to carry 
faces in their eye. This is practiced very successfully on our 
southern and western travelling routes. The collectors on the 
steamboats, rail-roads, &c, are obliged to remember who has 
paid, and who not, and where they came on board. I appeal 
whether their powerin this respect is not often remarkable — 
all from its exercise. . In England, there is a class of persons 
connected with prisons whose business is to detect old con- 
victs. They closely scrutinize every one who is brought in, 
looking at every peculiarity in the form of the nose, or its 
insertion, at the mouth, eyes, forehead, shape of the body, &c, 
and rarely allow any one who has been in before, to pass 
undetected. 



THE 

AMERICAN PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL, 

O. S. Fowler, Practical Phrenoolgist, Editor and Proprietor. 

PROSPECTUS OF VOLUME IV. 

The first leading object of the Editor of this Journal, will be to 
spread before the public the great amount and variety of phrenological 
<acts, applications, suggestions, and interesting miscellaneous matter, 
collected in the extensive practice of his profession. In order to systemat- 
ize, and yet diversify, this matter, sixteen pages each month will be made 
eminently practical, and calculated to teach beginners the science. It 
will contain a record of the most interesting facts that occur, illustrated 
by cuts; directions useful to learners ; short reviews of works for and 
against the science, as well as its history, progress, and existing state; 
and notices of societies ; together with miscellaneous matter of perma- 
nent interest and value, &c, &c. The other thirty-two pages per month, 
will contain the following original works, paged separately : 

I. Phrenology and Physiology applied to Education and Self- 
Improvement — Including the means of increasing and decreasing every 
organ, and the application of the principles of Phrenology to mental dis- 
cipline, to the cultivation of every kind of memory, and to self-govern- 
ment and self-improvement. In short, this work will show, 1st, what 
constitutes a good phrenological head, and 2d, how to attain this most 
desirable end by strengthening weak organs, and subduing those that are 
too strong, not only in children, but also in every individual for himself. 
It is designed to assist parents and teachers in conducting the intellectual 
education, and moral training and government of children ; and to aid 
all,, especially the young, in restraining excesses, supplying defects, and 
forming and improving their own characters. 

II. Phrenology and Physiology applied to Matrimony — Or the 
analysis of the Domestic Faculties, and the phrenological rules and princi- 
ples which should govern us in selecting companions for life, and in 
living with those already selected. By showing what organizations and 
phrenological developments can harmonize with each other in feeling and 
object, and what cannot, this work will be calculated to prevent unhappy 
marriages ; to diminish or remove causes of dissatisfaction or discord 
between husbands and wives; and to promote unity of object and con- 
geniality of feeling between them by showing them how to adapt them- 
selves to the phrenological developments of each other; conducting all 
who follow its principles to a happy " union for life " with a "kindred 
spirit." 

III. Hereditary Descent — Its Principles and Facts. — This 
work will consist mainly of facts in proof and illustration of those 
principles which govern the transmission of mental and physical qual- 
ities from parents to children, through successive generations, with 
directions, particularly to mothers, for applying these principles to the 
physical, intellectual and moral improvement of mankind, and to the 
production in offspring of whatever qualities maybe desired. No other* 
subject is more important or less understood ; and as nothing but facts 
can safely conduct us through this unexplored region, this work will 
consist mainly of a compilation of well authenticated facts of this class, 
mostly recorded for the first time, drawn from the history of families and 
individuals, and especially of our pilgrim ancestors and their descend- 
ants, showing that the mental and physical peculiarities, the forms of 
body and face, the tastes, talents, prooeEsities, modes of thinking and 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I 



I 



027 324 907 2 



acting, the intellectual and other qualities of particular families of the 
former, have descended through the whole line of their progeny, and 
remain stamped even upon the present generation. 

The materials for enriching the pages of this work will be drawn both 
from the parental history of men distinguished either for talents or moral 
worth, or vicious inclinations, and also from our prisons and peniten- 
tiaries, our poor-houses, and asylums for the deaf and dumb, blind, in- 
sane, diseased, &c, &c, as well as from that wide range of personal 
observation thrown open to the Editor by his professional practice. 

IV. The Natural Theology of Phrenology— -Its aspects on,'ana 
harmony with, Revelation — Including the analysis of the Moral Facul- 
ties ; the parallelism existing between the moral principles developed, 
and duties taught by Phrenology, and those laid down in the Bible ; and 
the bearings of Phrenology upon Fatalism, Materialism, Depravity, a 
Future State, &c, &c. By demonstrating the entire harmony existing 
between the moral code of Phrenology and the fundamental doctrines 
and duties taught in Scripture, this work will tend to establish the truth 
of both, and at the same time fearlessly expose some of those false doc- 
trines and injurious practices engrafted upon Christianity by some 
modern religionists. 

Terms. — $2 per vol. single copy, three copies for $5, or seven copies 
for $10 ; in all cases in advance, the work being published exclusively 
on the cash system. Back volumes for sale. Address subscriptions 
and communications, postpaid, to O. S. Fowler, Editor and Propri- 
etor, 135 Nassau Street, New York. 



FOR SALE. 

Fowlers Phrenology, — A Practical Treatise, of 500 pages, contain- 
ing a description of each faculty in six states of development, with the 
Phrenological Developments of many of our distinguised men. 

Synopsis of Phrenology, — 24 pages, containing a brief description of 
each organ in seven degrees of development, designed for recording Phre- 
nological examinations. 

Fowler on Matrimony, Founded on Phrenology — 48 pages, dis- 
cussing man's social and marriage relations ; directing candidates for 
marriage how to select companions for life whose feelings, tastes and 
objects, harmonize with their own. .Price \2l cts., or $8 per hundred. 

Also, Phrenological Almanacs for 1840-1 & 2; Busts and Specimens, 
including the whole of Combe's splendid collection, with casts of which 
societies and private libraries can be supplied. Busts and Masks taken 
from the head and face, being exact transcripts of their originals. Also 
^Drawings, Paintings, and Busts of distinguished characters. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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Hollinger 

pH 8.5 

Mill Run F03-2193 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 324 907 2 



Hollinger 

pH 8.5 

Mil! Run F03-2193 



